


Flowers in the Graveyard

by PuzzleDragon



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 17:52:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7584133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuzzleDragon/pseuds/PuzzleDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vax takes Keyleth to meet his mother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flowers in the Graveyard

**Author's Note:**

> toomanyorigamidragons on tumblr prompted "Vax and Kiki fic suggestion: they meet each other's parents"

They approach the solitary stone together in solemn silence.

It’s set apart from the others, but Keyleth already understands why. 

Vex would have come with them, but she decided this was something Vax needed to do alone. Or rather, alone with a druid.

Vax has met Keyleth's father - hopes to some day meet her mother, too - and Keyleth has met his father on more than one occasion, none of them pleasant.

But this is one parent that they never really talk about. Vax answers questions when she asks about his childhood, but speaks in short sentences. The twins celebrate her birthday alone, by spending the day in quiet companionship with each other. Reminiscing and remembering and regretting, while the rest of Vox Machina pretends not to notice their absence. 

Now, after being with Keyleth for over a year, Vax decides that while they’re all nearby on another adventure, it’s time she met his mother.

So they stand there, silent in front a lone grave marker. The grass is overgrown, the stone itself caked with dirt, and there are no flowers laid before it. That’s what hits Keyleth the hardest: there are no flowers.

Druid graves are marked by tress. The bodies of the departed transforming into food for the forest. Energy becoming energy. She has always found this beautiful and fitting, and to see a grave without a single flower to mark it’s presence seems wrong somehow.

But she does not move. She waits for Vax to take the first step, to say the first words. Eventually he begins to speak.

"Hi, mom," he starts, his voice quavering only slightly, "I know it’s been a long time. I’ve been good. Vex’s been better. We’re still looking out for each other, just like you told us to."

He takes a breath, and then reaches out to take Keyleth's hand and draw her forward.

"But, mom, this is Keyleth and she is the most amazing woman I am not related to by blood. She matters a lot to me and I’d like you to meet her."

Keyleth still doesn’t know what to say or who to speak to in the silence.

"Hello," she eventually manages, as Vax squeezes her hand to reassure her. "It’s an honor to meet you. Your son means a great deal to me and I’m very glad we had the chance to come here."

In the ensuing silence, she looks to Vax and asks, "Did she has a favorite flower?"

It’s somewhere between a whisper and a plea and a silent demand. Because she _needs_ to know this one small detail about this amazing woman - because she must have been amazing to have raised the twins on her own for so long - in this barely marked grave.

"Pansies," he answers with a slight smile, "She loved purple pansies. She kept a little window box of them, said it brightened up the house."

"May I?" she asks, gesturing to the ground.

"Of course."

Keyleth closes her eyes to concentrate and with a few deft movements of her hands, pansies of varying shades of purple and white sprout up from the grass, filling in the space around the stone, coloring the area and making it visible for everyone, not just those who’d care to notice. 

"She’d love them," Vax says, looking down at the small garden around his mother’s grave marker, "I think she’d really like you, too."

"Really?" Keyleth asks, genuinely a little surprised.

"Really. You’re so goodhearted, so kind and loyal. She would have loved to have that kind of energy in her life."

"That means a lot." She takes a breath before adding, "I’d like to hear more about her someday, if you’d be up to it."

"Someday," Vax agrees, a sad smile on his lips, "Not today, but someday I’ll tell you everything."

Keyleth smiles in return, and they fall silent again, just holding each other’s hands.

"I’ll be back tomorrow," Vax eventually says, turning back to the gravestone, "Me and Vex. We’ll stop by and spend some time together. For now, I just wanted you to meet Keyleth, and know that I have another incredibly powerful woman looking out for me, so there’s no need to worry too much. But tomorrow it'll just be me and you and Vex. Alright, mom?"

Keyleth hears no response, but Vax seems to take the silence as an answer as he leads Keyleth back to their party’s campsite.


End file.
